Disclaimer: I do not own Avatar: The Last Airbender or any of the characters, so please do not sue me!
Thanks for the reviews! I hope you enjoy this chapter.
(On With The Story!)
A few days had passed. Zuko's heart still contained an ache that couldn't be explained away. Zuko understood what it was, but after he told himself to forget the certain waterbender, he tried his hardest to ignore it. The past few days had been long and strenuous for the long Prince, but trying to let go of something that had been such a staple in his life wasn't easy. He had gotten along and was finally on his way home… But at what cost was the real question…
Meanwhile
Katara stood at the beach in the early morning hours of the morning and was staring out in the very direction she had realized Zuko had gone. The Fire Nation. Katara remembered vividly what had just transpired in this very spot just a few days ago. It was night. After she realized where he had gone, she fell apart. Everything she had ever come to love in this world was ripped from the pages of her life within hours and Katara was still at a standstill of what to think about it. Silently, she wondered if it was really worth it to continue.
Zuko leaving her without a trace was something she couldn't have fathomed. She still loved him. She always would because there was no other man in her life that made her feel the way she did when she was around him. Katara felt the uprising of tears in her eyes, but this time, she didn't fight them back. The crystalline tears formed a steady puddle in her eyes before they slipped down her face. "Zuko…" was the only word that slipped from her trembling lips as a wave of nausea hit over her and she fell to her knees.
Afterward, Katara quickly ran back to a forest and cleared a few trees to reveal a small campsite she had made. The first few days were hell for her. All she could do was curl up into her sleeping bag and cry. The overwhelming sense of loneliness was over her like a cloud ever since Zuko left; and somewhere in her heart, she silently wondered if he would ever come back. So many things had been unsaid between them and Katara regretted leaving that morning without letting the Prince know how she truly felt for him. She wanted to tell him, but the words couldn't find the way to her lips.
Katara let out a deep sigh before she sat gently on her sleeping bag. So many thoughts ran through her head, it was hard to keep up with reality. Her life felt like it was spinning uncontrollably and she couldn't do anything to calm it. Katara sighed deeply as she begins to stand up again. The constant grumbling in her empty stomach was driving her crazy and she decided she better find something to eat so her stomach could settle. After her feet were planted firmly on the ground, she made her way through a small path of bushes searching for berries. "No wonder why Sokka had such a hard time finding food…" Katara mumbled after searing for anything edible for over half an hour without being successful.
Katara sighed once again when she felt her butt hit the floor after her legs gave away in her weakness. "I can't live like this. How on earth am I supposed to find food when there is none to find?" Katara growled to no one in particular as she played with the soft soil that lingered under her fingers. "I could walk to a market and buy food, but with what money?" Katara continued to growl as she tried to run through every possible option but it always hit a dead end.
"I could find a job, but…" Katara considered and found it shocking that she really found no dead end to that idea after a few more negative ones ran through her head. A job. The question wasn't if she could get one, but as if Aang and Sokka or Zuko weren't coming back for her. Just in these last few days, was she really considering living the rest of her life alone? Katara's eyes fell when the predicament ran through her thoughts. What if neither of them came back? What would she do? Spend the rest of her days as a crazy woman, who smells of the forest, living in a small campsite with stories of her sexual escapades with Zuko, who would probably be Fire Lord by that time.
But the main question was if she had a choice. If she didn't find some real food soon, she would surely die of starvation. With that realization, Katara slowly stood up and began to pack up all her belongings. How was she supposed to know that everyone she loved was to leave her all alone to fend for herself within a matter of hour? Katara knew the reason Aang and Sokka had left her, but the reason Zuko went to the Fire Nation without Aang was puzzling. She wondered if Zuko planning something he didn't inform her about or he left on account of his father's terms, she didn't know. All she did know is that he was gone, and if he was coming back was unclear.
After Katara finished pacing up everything left she owned in the world, she began to head toward the very same town her, Aang, and Sokka had went to before they left without her. After an hour of walking toward her destination, she reached the small bustling city filled with the familiar merchants and items.
"Welcome back, miss! Did you change your mind about some of my fine wares and decide to come back after you realized you couldn't live without them?" said an overly vivacious salesman that sold small metal trinkets to her right.
"No." Katara said bluntly before passing his cart quickly. After walking through many overzealous merchants and randomly asking them if they needed help, she stopped at a larger warehouse filled with beautiful clothing items and cloth to make your own. On a nail that was near the door was a sign that read 'Help Wanted' in messy calligraphy. Katara's face lit up as she quickly grabbed the sign from the door and ran inside the clothing market.
Katara's eyes fell on a middle-aged man that was smiling flirtatiously at a young lady he was helping. She noticed his attire that matched most merchants and walked up to him with the sign under her arm. A few moments of standing by and listening to the conversation between him and the young lady made Katara's eyes go to the floor and shuffle her feet in wait was interrupted by the smooth voice of a male.
"May I help you?" the merchant sighed dejectedly before he turned his eyes toward Katara and his eyes went wide when he seen her.
"Yes, sir. I seen this sign on your door and I was wondering if you still had the job available." Katara meekly asked as she handed the sign to him.
The merchant's eyes lit up at her words, as he quickly looked the beautiful girl up and down. "Yes, I do." He talked in a graceful whisper.
"Oh really? Well, just to let you know, I really don't know much about what your selling because I'm from the Southern Water Tribe and we only had clothing made of…" Katara began to talk, but the man put his hand up to signal her to be quiet.
"It's quite alright. I could teach you about the clothing myself." He replied with a smile on his face.
"Thanks. I was just wondering how much this job pays before I make any final decisions." Katara asked as she looked up to his while biting her bottom lip as she tried to decipher the strange look he was giving her.
"It pays about five gold pieces a week." The man replied with a devious smile when he seen Katara's eyes light up when he said those eight words.
"A-Are you serious?" Katara stuttered when she thought back to the days when her and her traveling companions had nothing but a few copper pieces to live off of.
"Yes." The merchant replied.
"I'll take it for sure!" Katara said happily as she held her hands folded in front of her face.
"Alright then. You're hired. You can start tomorrow morning." The merchant replied.
"Thank you so much, sir!" Katara said happily before she bowed.
"Please. Call me Shing." He replied as he put his finger under her chin so she would look at him directly into the eyes, which were traced with large amounts of lust.
"As you wish, Shing." Katara replied happily thinking nothing of his action before she turned to leave so she could find somewhere to stay while she was here.
"Wait, miss!" Shing said before he ran after her.
"Yes?" Katara asked as she looked back at the slightly heavier-set merchant running toward her.
"If you need a place to stay, employees are allowed to live at the shop with meals included, but would get a slightly lower pay of four gold pieces a week instead of five." Shing replied with another devilish smile.
"Really? That sounds great!" Katara exclaimed happily as she smiled knowing it would cost more then one gold piece to keep her fed and sheltered for a week, so this was an offer the waterbender couldn't refuse. It was also nice to stay in the same place that you were working because she knew the closest apartment buildings in this town were about 2 miles away from the store she had just got a job.
"Good. Well, the shop is about to close, so why don't you get situated in one of the rooms in the back and I'll make sure you get dinner within the next hour." Shing suggested and Katara quickly accepted the offer. Katara walked through a small opening in the back room and found a hallway that lead to three doors that were lines up along a small corridor.
"Here we are. You can have this room." Shing said as he walked up from behind her and opened the middle door. Katara nodded thankfully at her new boss before she walked into the room and placed down the sleeping bag and woven sack she had been carrying on her back on one of the small mats on the floor.
"Thank you so much, Shing." Katara said as she turned toward the door he was standing at.
"You're welcome. There is a girl that is working with me that is also staying in this room. She is a very sweet girl, so I believe you'll get along just fine." Shing informed the waterbender.
"Where is she now? I'd love to introduce myself to her right away." Katara said happily at the aspect of a new friend to talk to.
"I would, but she is getting me a few things throughout town that we need for tomorrow, but she should be back momentarily and just in time to join you for dinner. You can meet her then." Shing replied before he left Katara alone in the room.
Katara sighed dejectedly at the news before she sat herself upon the mat she had placed her bag. Katara looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap as she began to think about what her life would now be like for perhaps a long amount of time. This was a new chapter in her life and if it was a good thing was yet to be decided. Going on each day was a task on its own and Katara wondered if this was a turn in her life that was destined to happen. She couldn't deny the fact that she missed her traveling companions and the Fire Nation Prince. She missed them so very much, but she doubted Aang and Sokka would come back. If Zuko was going to, she didn't know.
The look on his face when she was leaving was in her head. He was so gorgeous. She knew that for a fact. But the deep regret and pain in his eyes was something she knew hadn't been there before. In the midst of their passions, his eyes held nothing but his fiery personality and the desires brought on by their lovemaking. Lovemaking. How long had it been since she referred their sexual escapades as lovemaking? According to Zuko, it has always been just sex. True as it was, Katara always believed that the Prince deeply cared for her and her for him. Wasn't that good enough to refer to it as lovemaking rather then just sex, which sounded more of a lustful notion than making love was.
The reason she was even thinking of Zuko in such a way now was strange to her, but the loneliness of this situation made her hold on to her memories and think about them as much as possible made her feel less homesick for a home that was being held in the arms of the only man she could ever love. Katara felt a sob reach her throat as she began to feel the tears begin to form in her blue eyes. Katara would give up everything she had left just to feel him holding her one last time. She didn't care if he never paid her a second glance again as long as she could feel his arms around her right now.
Loneliness was one of the worst pains she had felt and knowing that she was now completely alone in a strange city made surprisingly even worse. Katara didn't know if she would be able to handle being alone for much longer without someone to talk to, and the idea of making a new friend was still something she had to decide on. Katara really didn't see a way out of this. She had no idea where Aang and Sokka would go to and even considering going to the Fire Nation after Zuko was out of the question. Katara hadn't given up all hope of ever seeing either the people she loved again, but the question of time still rang in her head, but she was willing to wait as long as she had to.
Meanwhile
Zuko sighed gently as he sat at the small dining table near the kitchen as his uncle talking to him about the upcoming events at 'music night'. Zuko was half-heartedly listening to his uncle as he stared blankly at the wall. Iroh's smile suddenly faded when he looked at his nephew's demeanor that had stayed the same ever since he got the letter from his father. Zuko had been scarcely eating and slept most of the day ever since they began heading for the Fire Nation. Zuko couldn't hold up a conversation very well and his attention span grew shorter every single day.
This worried Iroh so. He loved his nephew very much and he knew Zuko had been through enough in his life already to start questioning him. "Nephew?" Iroh asked softly as he reached his hand over the table and placed his hand on the Prince's shoulder.
"Hmm?" Zuko replied softly as his eyes didn't change direction.
"Never mind…" Iroh replied just before the chef walked through the door and began to serve the dinner he had just prepared.
Meanwhile
Sokka angrily handled Appa's reigns as they continued to fly though the sky without stopping for anything less then a potty break for three days straight already. The bison growled sadly as he felt his tired muscles begin to sorely ache once again. Aang noticed the bison's pain, but couldn't bring himself to speak to Sokka. The angry warrior hadn't spoke a word for days and Aang began to wonder if he would ever speak again. The Avatar was still upset about what happened with the young waterbender and regretted ever leaving her alone, but there was nothing he could do at this point.
Aang didn't know if he totally accepted the fact that Katara was in love with Prince Zuko, but he was willing to accept that fact because he didn't want Katara to hate him even after leaving her alone to fend for herself in the wilderness. But he couldn't leave Sokka in the state he was in now. He wanted to leave to find Katara, but he feared Sokka might do something stupid if he left the warrior alone. All the young Avatar could do now is pray Sokka would have a change of heart about his younger sister's affection toward their enemy and that Katara would be safe when and if that happened…
(To Be Continued…)